


Blood and Tears

by force_catpain_catra



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25707103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/force_catpain_catra/pseuds/force_catpain_catra
Summary: Adora's traning has finally started to pay off. Horde grunts and bots possessed little to no challenge and she achieved a bigger degree of control over She-Ra and her weapon, but there was still one enemy that she couldn't defeat with strength alone.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Blood and Tears

„For the power of Grayskull!”

She stood surrounded by Horde grunts, each of them moving closer to her, their tasers zapping quietly as they closed the circle, leaving her vulnerable.

She knew their tactics. Having spent half of her life as a Horde cadet, she saw through their actions and pre-emptively swung her sword in a wide crescent, sending three of them flying. When one wanted to attack her from behind, she quickly disarmed them and reacted with a shoulder bash that left them unconscious. Shortly after, she was standing on nothing more than a pile of senseless bodies. Her training was finally paying off, no Horde soldier was a match for her now.

Except one?

After a quiet moment broken only by the groaning of the troops, she heard slow clapping coming from behind one of the pillars. She already knew what did that mean.

“How did you find me here?” She went back into her fighting stance, pointing her sword at the intruder.

“Hey Adora. You’re not exactly hard to track, you know?” Catra examined her fingernails and just in case, unsheathed her claws.

Adora’s irises widened as she examined Catra’s appearance further. Instead of her usual battle attire she was wearing her burgundy suit she remembered from the Princess Prom. Many thoughts crossed her head and she could swear that her face started turning red, but she put all of them aside and focused on maintaining proper posture and grip.

“What do you want, Catra?” another thousand possibilities went through her head until she discarded all but one. _Catra is here for her personally._

“And since when do you care what do I want? Maybe I just wanted to see you swinging that chunk of metal around?” Catra just shrugged, maintaining eye contact and staying steady on her feet. Despite everything that happened in the past, she kept her face relaxed and smug as usual.

This statement has caught Adora off guard, giving Catra enough time to pounce at her with an attack that she dodged effortlessly. The two kept exchanging blows, sharp whistling of the sword intertwining with quick and deadly clawed jabs.

“You know that it’s not true Catra!” Adora grunted when they both stopped trying to kill each other for a second. Although she has heard it before, these words were always hurtful. She did indeed care about her friend and would like to get her back. _Or should she say, former friend?_

“Please, be honest for once. You left me. You left me alone,” she stopped for a second, following her opponent with her eyes and trying to anticipate and get ready for any attack she might make. Her face was almost robotic, not changing its expression whether during conversation or combat.

“I haven’t left you! You choose to stay with the Horde!” she lowered her weapon too, giving them both space for a conversation, but the atmosphere was as tense as it could and she had to stay on her toes. She remembered what happened in Thaymor, what were their initial intentions and what a terrific image it was. _How could she see it and still go back._

Catra just laughed it off.

“What did you want me to do? Apologise for burning their village? Attacking their families? Claim that I’m your friend so I’ll stay around while still sitting in the damn tank?”

“And what was I supposed to do? They barely trusted me then, I was pretty much still their prisoner, I have just learned about this entire She-Ra thing and still had a lot on my mind…”

“Oh and I didn’t have a lot on my mind? The only person I ever cared about just casually decided to leave me and I just had to deal with it, right? Her visage turned angry now and her fur got all bushed up. “Think about other people for once, Adora!”

This sentence stroke deeply. Everything that Adora did since she left the Horde was about other people. Only now she started to accept the selfless duty of being She-Ra and protecting the people of Etheria.

“You saw what the Horde has done! You saw the pain and suffering they caused! How could you still go back to them?!”

“ _You_ saw them as evil. And you still left me here. You didn’t come back to ‘save’ me from the evil Horde. You just left me there to rot and you know what? I don’t even mind it that much. After all, it was _you_ who was standing between me and success.”

Adora was left speechless. They stood like that for a good moment, staring at each other with arms at the ready and wounds in their hearts. Before she could attempt to say something, Catra looked down at the smooth glassy floor and clenched her fists hard enough to make her joints click. A few tears dropped down from her eyes.

“You made a promise.”

Shocked, Adora lowered her guard even further, and reached out to her.

“Catra, wait…”

“You,” she pounced at her, still crying, “Made,” she aimed a blow at her vulnerable, outstretched hand, “A promise!”

She cut her deeply and now Adora’s blood joined Catra’s tears on the ground.

Despite the pain, Adora once again went into battle mode and maintained her steady stance, now using her sword with only one hand in a duelling position. She didn’t care about the wound; all she could think about was the former friend that was now trying to kill her. She didn’t want to fight and didn’t particularly know what should she say. She just wished none of this ever happened and they both lived in peace.

But it has indeed happened.

Catra was looking feral and staring directly into She-Ra’s eyes. Her pretty eyes who usually had a lot of charm in them now possessed nothing more but pure, uncontained hatred.

“You were supposed to be the _only_ person that would never leave me. You made the _fucking_ promise and still ran away from me!”

Catra continued her assault. Her blows were meant to be lethal, used with force so strong that left Adora no choice but to dodge. Even a single connected hit could mean her end. Regular Adora wouldn’t stand a chance here and even She-Ra was having problems.

Unless she could be a little creative.

Adora sighted deeply. _Don’t fail me now._

After avoiding a series of strikes, she saw an opening and breached her defences with a single well aimed kick. Catra was sent into the air backwards, and before she could land on her feet and use her dexterity to come back fluidly, she was hit with a rope-like weapon that restricted her movement. _Just like in Thaymor._

She-Ra was pretty impressed with the combo she performed, she knew it is time to be serious and solve this once and for all. She slowly walked towards her friend who was unable to cut through the magical binding.

“I apologise, Catra.” She said steadily and loudly.

Catra stopped resisting for a second and just looked at her.

“I apologise. I should not have left you, and at the very least I should have went back for you. I know I failed and I might actually have been selfish, but please, Catra, let me fix this.” She kneeled in front of her and trying to reach her hand out to her again.

Her friend was still crying and this whole situation rendered her mute for a second. A few seconds, during which Adora haven’t moved an inch, passed before she was able to say mere two words.

“Fix this?” she barely managed to squeeze it out of her throat.

“Fix this, rebuild us. I cannot go back, not like that and not after everything that happened, but there’s a place for you in the Rebellion. Please, come here and we’ll be together once again,” she spoke softly, despite all those tears that were desperate to get out of her eyes. “We don’t really have bunks at Brightmoon, but I’ll let you sleep in my bed,” she smiled endearingly.

Catra needed a moment to process everything that was said, and once again she received that moment.

“Come here,” she whispered so quietly it could barely be heard.

Adora grabbed her hand through the net and smiled once again. She held it firmly as if she never meant to let her go. After everything that has happened, she had a chance to connect with her once again and her heart was beating so fast it almost broke her ribs. They both stared at each other, unable to say anything but communicating solely with their eyes.

Then everything froze.

Unnaturally. Adora thought that the time just stopped working for a second. Not like she minded that, she could spent eternity in that moment, but something was just… off.

Then, a sharp and burning pain in her chest brought her out of it.

Catra, still holding her hand, stabbed her chest deeply with her free arm. All Adora could do was stare at those blue-and-yellow eyes as she felt her hot blood pouring out of her chest. A moment later, she wasn’t She-Ra anymore as her body couldn’t sustain it with the injury. Everything was quiet. So quiet she could hear her breath that was getting more quiet and shallow with every passing second.

Until everything went black.

…

…

…

“I apologise. I still don’t have a clear image of the one you call “Catra,” so I had to work with what you have in your mainframe and, well, improvise at the end. This performance was, in fact, below any expectations. You must learn to get rid of your emotions and attachments if you want to save Etheria. Again.

**Author's Note:**

> This is meant to take place between S1 and S2, when Adora only starts her training with Light Hope. Also obligatory "English is not my first language.
> 
> I wish everyone reading this a good day~


End file.
